According to the September issue of The Wire, The Pop Group have reformed and are to play two ATP shows in London on the 11th & 12th of September, playing material from their two albums and from the their new one, due out in September. Well, they're all coming out of the woodwork now, aren't they ?

[ to keep it slightly more realistic, i think i'd be already happy enough if the last this heat line-up would reform, the one with Trefor Goronwy replacing Gareth Williams ]

To be pedantic, it was actually two people, Ian Hill and Goronwy, they got in to replace Gareth and bear in mindBullen afterwards stated that the four piece "wasn't really this heat", no one involved with that final tour seemedhappy with it in any way.

As far as the This Heat re-form possibility goes I can state categorically it's never going to happen. Someone I knowtried to get Bullen and Hayward to do a live project not too long ago and was told directly that they will never worktogether again. The fact that they didn't perform together at the memorial concert wasn't an accident.

yep fergus i was there and it was great stuff indeed. never caught them first time around , so glad i did this time.

a thought hit me during the gig as to what a great drummer bruce smith was in the pop group and why that never seemed to come through in PIL. just like mcgeogh , who sounded so unique in magazine/banshees but just another rock guitarist on those last 3 PIL releases. you'd think on paper that should have been quite a band , but it was just dullsville. shame.

It was very good indeed. A Proper greatest hits show - started with We are all prostitutes, excellent extended Beyond good & Evil, plus We are Time, Trap, Colourblind, Forces of Oppression etc. Super tight & funky - Smith/Catsis/Sager really on good form. An additional young guitarist filled in the gaps. Extended 'funky jam' WAAP as encore - apparently the reformation is ongoing & there's a new album on the way...

Cheers Paul & Mark for that. Sounds terrific. Everything you could want from a Pop Group show really. I would love to have gone, especially as there was a z'ev/Chris Watson gig the night before, but was unable to get away. By the sound of things they'll be doing some more shows (and a new album ? Praise be !). Hopefully some sufficiently enlightened promoter will get them over to Dublin....

The closest I've ever come to hearing their music live was when the mighty Mike Watt did an absolutely storming version of We Are Time when he played Dublin in 2005.